


There you'll be

by Elisexyz



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/M, Hydra Grant Ward, Hydra Jemma Simmons, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Protectiveness, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 08:59:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15578337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elisexyz/pseuds/Elisexyz
Summary: “You fainted,” she finally explains, turning back towards him and crossing her arms. She’s keeping her distance, and, again, that’s probably a bad sign. “Straight into my arms, I might add.”He gets a mental picture of him crushing Jemma’s small frame, and he isn’t sure if it’s mildly concerning or just hilarious.“Okay,” he says, slowly. “Why?”Jemma pauses. “Oh, I drugged you,” she finally says, innocently.Yeah, alright, that makes— wait,what?





	There you'll be

**Author's Note:**

> For the Tumblr prompt: [71\. “You are the single best thing that has ever happened to me.” + 75. “You fainted, straight into my arms. You know, if you wanted my attention, you didn’t have to go to such extremes.” + Biospecialist](http://heytheredeann.tumblr.com/post/176667186069/if-youre-still-taking-new-prompts-how-about-71). (I chopped off half of the second one but I did use the first too, I hope that gives me a free pass :P)

He wakes to an horrible headache a whole lot of confusion. He instinctively keeps his eyes closed, his body tensing up as he quickly wonders where he is, if he’s supposed to maintain any cover or if he’s in any trouble.

The pain and the fog might mean drugs, or maybe a concussion, and he resists the urge to groan loudly at the suspicion that he may have been kidnapped. That might be one of the most annoying things in line of work, he swears.

He forces himself to relax just in case someone is watching, and he comes to realize that he is not restrained. Maybe not a kidnapping, then?

There’s movement around him, and the place smells like an hospital, but it’s only when he hears a barely contained gasp followed by a curse in a very prominent British accent that he decides to open his eyes, his lips twisting into a smile.

He shifts on his bed, taking a moment to look at Jemma, who’s trying to put back into a container whatever dangerous sample she just spilled all over the table.

When she turns around and finds him sitting and staring at her, she probably comes close to having a stroke. “ _Grant_ ,” she reprimands, one hand on her chest as she leans back and tries to slow down her breathing. He just grins at her. “You’re awake,” she then adds, almost as an afterthought.

“Yeah,” he replies, blinking quickly as he tries to ignore the painful effect that sound has on his headache. “What happened?”

Jemma takes off her gloves and throws them away, turning her back on him in doing so and taking a few extra seconds before answering, which is— probably a bad sign. Grant tries to recall if he got hurt doing something particularly stupid, but he comes up empty.

“You fainted,” she finally explains, turning back towards him and crossing her arms. She’s keeping her distance, and, again, that’s probably a bad sign. “Straight into my arms, I might add.”

He gets a mental picture of him crushing Jemma’s small frame, and he isn’t sure if it’s mildly concerning or just hilarious.

“Okay,” he says, slowly. “Why?”

Jemma pauses. “Oh, I drugged you,” she then says, innocently.

Yeah, alright, that makes— wait, _what?_

He blinks, waiting for _something_ to happen, maybe for the realization that he heard wrong to come, but it doesn’t, and Jemma keeps staring at him, arms crossed and face still perfectly innocent. Okay, then.

“Why?” he ends up asking, slowly. There must be an explanation, right?

For a second, he wonders if SHIELD somehow knew about Hydra since the very beginning and she was working as a triple agent, playing him the whole time just like he was playing the rest of their team.

But he’s not restrained. If he’s a prisoner, why isn’t he restrained?

(A part of him stubbornly repeats that she would never do that to him.)

“Because you are a _moron_ , that’s why,” she replies, forcefully. He knows that tone: it’s the familiar, a bit aggressive worry that she throws at him whenever he’s too careless for her liking. Right now, though, it’s not enough.

“I’m afraid I’m gonna need a little more than that, Jem,” he says, gently.

She stares for a few seconds, her fingers drumming nervously on her arm, then she sighs.

“I just don’t want you to follow Garrett to your death,”  she finally explains.

Grant feels the tension leaving his body in a moment: he remembers it, he remembers that when Hydra suddenly came out of the shadows Jemma started voicing her worry that he wouldn’t make it out of this fight, because according to her he’s far too expendable in John’s eyes.

Okay, that makes sense.

“Nothing is gonna happen to me,” he tries to reassure her.

“Damn right it isn’t,” she replies, firmly. “And if I have to drug you to make sure of it, then so be it.”

He sighs, fighting off a smile in spite of how inconvenient it is that she’s actively keeping him away from the battlefield. He wonders how much time has passed.

“John’s gonna be looking for me,” he points out. “He’ll need my help.”

“Well, he’ll have to deal,” Jemma simply says, a bit spitefully. He knows that she’s always tried to bring herself to like John, for his sake, but she’s never enjoyed the amount of risks that he’s exposed to, and John always tends to indulge him when it comes to that. When Hydra blew its cover, Grant knew that she’d find himself in the middle of those two.

“Jem—” he begins, softly, but he’s interrupted.

“Don’t _Jem_ me,” she protests. “You are the single best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I am not going to lose you to somebody else’s fight,” she adds, looking at him with fire in her eyes, moving a step closer as if to appear more threatening. “Are we clear?”

For a moment, he really wants to kiss her and promise her that they’ll just go away, live their life together and forget all about SHIELD, Hydra and their wars.

“I have no intention of leaving you,” he says, firmly. “I promise. But— I can’t leave John either, you know that. I owe him.”

“You don’t owe him your _life_.”

“Yes, I do.”

Jemma purses her lips, inhaling sharply and looking like she wants to shake him until he comes to his senses. “You gave him fifteen years of it,” she finally says, her voice softer as she steps forward and brings her hand up to touch his cheek. “Isn’t that enough?”

 _No_ , is the truthful answer. He doesn’t think it’s _ever_ going to be enough. His is a debt that can’t really be repaid, not when he wouldn’t have _anything_ at all if it weren’t for John.

He also knows that Jemma isn’t going to get this. She never has, she probably never will.

So he smiles tentatively and leans in on her touch, sighing as he slides his arm around her waist and brings her closer. “Okay,” he says, softly. “I can— take a break. How’s that?”

“A break?” she echoes, her eyebrows shooting up in evident scepticism.

“I’ll stay with you, until the worst of it has passed. Off the grid,” he clarifies.

She searches his face with her eyes, most likely looking for a sign that he’s not being truthful – she’s not going to find any, not if he doesn’t want her to, but for a moment he contemplates letting the mask slip and not winning this argument.

“Okay,” she finally says, offering a small, sweet smile that makes his stomach twist in a manifestation of his guilt. “Thank you.”

As she leans in for a kiss, he closes his eyes and tries not to think of how hurt she’ll be when he’ll slip away and run back to John, instead holding onto the certainty – hope? – that she’ll forgive him when he’ll be back, like she always does.


End file.
